294 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



duct of the State, especially of the southern portions. 

 They may be divided into three principal classes, Port, 

 Sherry, and Angelica. The first two have mostly been 

 made from the Malvasia, and Mission grapes, as the 

 latter develops a sherry flavor in its white wine when it 

 becomes older; the last is chiefly made from Muscat of 

 Alexandria. As I have never made them to any extent, 

 my readers must not expect me to go into detail, for while 

 I am willing to tell all I know, I do not like to speak 

 about anything of which I do not know, or know at most 

 simply from hearing. Sherries and ports, in fact, all 

 three of these, are fortified with grape brandy, and the 

 first two cooked or heated in separate rooms, built for the 

 purpose. Angelica is made by adding enough grape brandy 

 to the sweet must to arrest, or rather prevent, fermenta- 

 tion, and the lees and other impurities precipitated by 

 an addition of quick lime, which clears it within forty- 

 eight hours. Sherries are made from white wines, or 

 rather the first run of the Mission grape, as the object here 

 is to make a light-colored wine with a peculiar flavor and 

 great body. Port is made from red wine, as it should 

 contain, besides deep color, a certain sweetness and 

 alcoholic strength, a large amount of tannin. I do not 

 pretend to be a judge of, nor an admirer of these wines, 

 and must leave it to others who are, to give a more full 

 description of them and the methods by which they are 

 made. A very learned essay by one of the first experts, 

 Mr. Pohndorff, who has followed the business in Spain, 

 and described the process of making and maturing natu- 

 ral sherries, impressed me with the idea that our Ameri- 

 can people are too impatient to wait ten years before a 

 sherry can be fully matured and sold, and seemed to me 

 about the strongest argument against making it here in 

 that way, which I have ever listened to. 



